Travel

On our second morning in the Tetons, we roused ourselves well before first light. We didn’t break down our camp, and we didn’t bother with breakfast. Instead, we just jumped in the Jeep and took off, because on that particular morning, I …

The Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a national holiday in Mexico, a tradition that’s so deeply ingrained in the collective psyche of the country that it’s almost a cultural imperative. The actual holiday–the day the banks and government offices …

An expatriate, or “expat”, is someone who has deliberately moved away from their native country for the specific purpose of establishing a new life in a foreign land. I’m not talking about a temporary relocation for work, or a semester abroad for school. …

Visiting the Spanish Colonial cities of Mexico is almost like traveling back in time. Narrow cobblestone streets wind between buildings, facades, and stately old mansions that date back three hundred years or more. There are beautiful plazas, parks, and soaring cathedrals, all of similar …

Down by the Guatemalan border, in a remote corner of the Mexican state of Chiapas, there’s a small Mayan ruin known as Bonampak. The ancient, long abandoned city, really more of a large town, boasts a couple of smallish third rate pyramids, topped by some tiny …

Most of the Yucatan is flat as the proverbial pancake, but there is an area just inland from Campeche and Merida where the karstic limestone folds on itself and creates a jumbled range of low mountains known as the Puuc Hills. This …

Edzna? I’m afraid so. And it’s pronounced just like it’s spelled: Edz-nah. Edzna. Sounds like the name of the blowsy waitress at that ethnic diner down by the docks. Foreign, but not really what you’d call exotic? Certainly not beautiful, or …

The Rio Bec region includes most of the southeastern portion of the Yucatan, the area where the borders of modern-day Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala all come together. There are a number of important Maya sites in that region, and they share a common suite of distinctive architectural traits, …

The historic range of the Maya was a vast expanse that encompassed fully a third of the land area of Mesoamerica: the entire Yucatan peninsula, much of the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco, all of modern day Guatemala and Belize, and the western sections …

Tulum is not all that large, as Mayan sites go, but its spectacular location, right on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, makes it one of the best known, and definitely one of the most picturesque. This was a late post-classic Maya …

Uxmal, (pronounced, oosh-mahl), is, in my opinion, the most aesthetically spectacular of all the Mayan cities. The beautiful jungle setting, the quality of the architecture, the state of preservation, the wonderful plazas replete with flowering trees. This place has it all, …

Palenque! This ruin of an ancient Mayan city, located in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, ranks among the most famous archaeological sites in the entire world. Just hearing the name conjures images of crumbling limestone pyramids rising up out of …

Update: January 10, 2018: In most parts of Mexico, the overall security situation is essentially unchanged from what I describe in this post, which was written in December of 2015. Sadly, there are a few areas where cartel violence has escalated, and the …

Some Alaska Highway Highlights: (More coming soon)! Okay–so I’ve actually DONE it, and it was more amazing than I ever could have dreamed! I drove north from Arizona, following the west coast of the U.S. as far as Vancouver, then north and east through …

Getting Ready For the Drive: What to bring? Some of this is almost too obvious to mention, so I’ll speed through it without getting too specific. There will be temperature extremes, from warm and muggy to freezing and worse, so I’ll …

Denali! Planning the route: This isn’t so much a drive to Alaska, as it is a drive to Denali, the crown jewel of the Alaska Range and the largest mountain in North America. Formerly known as Mount McKinley, Denali is a unique …

How much planning? I’m driving to Alaska! It’s one of those bucket list things that I’ve always wanted to do, and since I recently retired, I finally have the time for it. I’m anticipating a fair bit of traveling over the next …

In any slot canyon, but particularly at Lower Antelope, the visual atmosphere can vary dramatically through the course of the day. The top of this canyon is nothing but a fissure in the sandstone that’s as little as a foot wide in some spots, …

A slot canyon is a unique geological phenomenon, a stunning display of natural beauty that can take your breath away with a single glance. On the Colorado Plateau, which stretches across Northern Arizona into Southern Utah, slots are formed, over the course of many thousands of …

Canyon de Chelly (“D’Shay”) is a geological marvel of the first order, a hidden treasure, tucked away in a remote section of the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona. It’s one of the more striking features of the Colorado Plateau, where sediments from an ancient sea …

A major perk that comes along with living in Arizona is the fact that the Grand Canyon, one of the great natural wonders of the known universe, is, like, right there, practically in your back yard. All you have to …

A Grand Canyon river trip is no ordinary experience. From Lee’s Ferry to Lake Mead is a distance of 280 miles, and there are close to 100 named rapids along the route, many of them serious business for even the most …

Day two, our first full day on the river, dawned clear and cool. I awoke even before first light, restless on my cot, and slept out, after going to bed so danged early. The crew was up and running around before …

Day three! The call to “COFFEE!” was welcome indeed, followed by another good breakfast of pancakes and whatnot. With the confluence of the Little Colorado beckoning, we struck camp and loaded the rafts in record time. We started out by immediately …

We broke camp perhaps a bit less eagerly on Day Four, most of us thinking about the huge rapids we’d be hitting, pretty much straight out of the gate. Whitewater—that was one of the main attractions on this river trip, but …

After breaking camp and setting out on the river, we immediately hit Tapeats Rapid, right at the mouth of Tapeats Creek. Compared to the big ones, this was just a toddler, only 4-5 on the scale, but in the early morning, before …

Day Seven! COFFEE! And another beautiful morning in the Grand Canyon. This day started out a bit differently. We had our breakfast, broke down the camp, loaded the rafts, and climbed aboard. But instead of firing up the outboard and motoring …

Day eight, the last in an amazing series, among the most supremely exciting weeks of my entire life. We were up at dawn and broke camp very quickly, skipping our usual leisurely breakfast in favor of a quick snack. We still …